In livestock feeding systems, vertical conveyors are frequently used to convey grain or other feed material upwardly to overhead feed conveyors. In one type of conveying system, the grain is fed to a roller mill where the grain is cracked and discharged into an auger-type horizontal conveyor. The auger conveyor in turn feeds the grain to the lower end of a vertical auger conveyor which elevates the grain and delivers it to an overhead conveyor system. The use of an auger-type vertical conveyor has certain disadvantages in that an expensive bevel gear arrangement is required to connect the vertical auger with the horizontal auger. Furthermore, the auger is subject to corrosion, and being fixed in length, cannot be readily adapted to convey materials to different elevations.
In other conveying systems, a bucket conveyor is employed to elevate the grain or other feed material, but a bucket conveyor is restricted to vertical travel and cannot be varied in inclination to regulate the vertical position of discharge of the conveyor.